Section 45F Employer-Provided Child Care Credit Partner Path
Section 45F gives employers a federal tax credit for qualified child care expenditures, creating partner-side leverage for child care operators.
About this program
The employer-provided child care credit under Internal Revenue Code Section 45F is a federal tax credit for eligible employers that make qualified child care facility or resource and referral expenditures. The IRS describes the credit as 25 percent of qualified child care facility expenditures plus 10 percent of qualified resource and referral expenditures, limited to $150,000 per year. This is not direct cash to a child care operator. Its founder relevance is strategic: a provider may use the credit as a partner-side incentive when structuring employer-sponsored slots, on-site or near-site care, facility partnerships, or resource/referral relationships.
Eligibility
Eligible employers, not child care operators as direct recipients, may claim the credit for qualified employer-provided child care expenditures under federal tax rules.
Requirements
- Credit is claimed by an eligible employer for qualified child care facility or resource and referral expenditures, is subject to federal Section 45F rules and the annual limitation, benefits a child care operator only indirectly through an employer partnership or contract, and should not be treated as direct grant funding or a provider-side refundable payment.